CASTERTON Sandford made its intent known on Saturday at Island Park with a solid victory over West Gambier in Round 10 of Western Border football.
The Cats ran rampant from the opening bounce to the final whistle, not allowing the Roos any room to move around the ground.
While West showed glimpses of good football, it was overshadowed by the Cats’ performance.
The running play linked from the backline right through the middle to the forward line, where plenty of players put their hands up to claim a major score.
A total of 11 Cats hit the scoreboard, with coach Hamish Jarrad leading by example, topping the list with three.
Dylan Ayton played one of his better games of the year, finishing with two majors but had a major effect on the contest around the ground.
The likes of first-gamer Travis Robertson – who coached Tom McArlein in the Geelong amateurs – and Michael Jarrad were relentless, pushing the ball out of the danger zone and into the running hands of Daniel Wombwell and McArlein, to be finished off by a host of players, including two majors to Trent Nesbitt.
Robertson’s inclusion may have been a one-off according to Cats coach Hamish Jarrad.
“It was Travis’s first game for us,” Jarrad said.
“He is 38 years old but has won three VFL best and fairests at Werribee.
“He has captained the VFL state side and played Division 1 country, but I’m not sure if we will have him again this year.
“He wanted to come up and play with Tom, so hopefully we can qualify him for finals.”
The home side set the scene from the first bounce, with two solid tackles that failed to slow the Roos down, who immediately pushed forward.
However, the combination of Wombwell, McArlein and Robertson pushed the ball back down the ground, with Nesbitt on the end of a fast-moving run of play to score the first major in the first two minutes of play.
The game continued as a hard slog, with neither side giving an inch, but again it was the Cats who made the most of the tough tackling, with Ayton taking a strong grab from close to 50 metres, banging it home for the Cats’ second and the writing was already on the wall.
The Roos pushed forward from the next centre bounce, but Josh Stephenson and Tynan Shannon combined to clear the danger zone.
Josh Schapel soon stood tall for the Roos, with a mark on the boundary 20 metres out, which he threaded through to give his side some reward for effort.
With a 14-point first-quarter lead the Cats looked settled, but West pushed hard in the second to stay in the game.
Early goals to both sides kept the margin similar, with an arm wrestle developing.
Lawry Bradley-Brown was finding plenty of the ball for the Roos, linking up with Todd Lewis along the wing, but again it was a fruitless exercise, with the home side up to the challenge defensively.
With the quarter into time-on, West needed a score, but the Cats pushed forward, holding on to lead at the long break by just 16 points.
From there the Cats took control, applying the blowtorch to the Roos, who started to falter under the pressure.
Four majors to one in the third term was a telling factor, but in the final term the intensity lifted even further.
The Roos were first to take the ascendancy, with two unanswered goals before the Cats once more lifted and started to systematically bury the visitors.
The Cats played the type of football that has seen them push the top teams in the league, with West having no answer.
The Cats’ running game came to the fore, with linking play from the backline, along the wing and further forward.
In the end it was an impressive performance and with just a solitary premiership point now keeping the Cats out of the top four, it was the ideal result to set up an assault on finals football.
For Hamish Jarrad it was a tough slog and one he was pleased to claim.
“West beat us over there last time and even on Saturday it was a really competitive game,” he said.
“They definitely didn’t hand us the four points – we had to work pretty hard for it.
“I thought offensively it was the best we have transitioned the ball from defence to forward.
“I thought we held our width and structures better than we have before.”
Jarrad said the combination of Robertson and Wombwell in the backline worked well, highlighting the linking play out of defence as the difference, with Ayton a major part of that as well.
“In the second half I pushed Dylan up to the wing and I thought that really changed our ball movement and transition,” he said.
“He is so smart and pretty much a kick ahead of the play.
“It was probably the first game this year he has got back to the level we all know he can play at.”
With the Roos threatening in the final term, Jarrad said it ensured they maintained their momentum which saw the Cats run away with the game.
“This year when the momentum has gone against us we haven’t got it back our way,” he said.
“I thought we did that well on Saturday.
“I thought having our back six playing so well, we were able to settle the game.
“For us to play our best footy we need to run, which we did in the last quarter.
“A couple of our leaders stood up and we got that one goal back and went on from there.”
